Don’t forget

Alfa electronics dealer

Been going to alfa markets to try to conduct some business and have met mixed success. First no success, second no success, third time some success. learnings? indeed.

First time i went up there, i tried to get prices on phones. just walked in and asked “what will you give me fore…” that was OK but didn’t really get me anywhere. would have been risky to buy something with no relationship with the dealers.

Second time around, i tried to sell one guy my old crap. got some low-ball offers, nothing good.

Third time up, i just asked the guy what kinds of stuff he needed. we talked for a long time about what he was in the market for, he gave me his contact info, and he told me that next time i’m overseas i should call him and we’ll pre-arrange a price for specific products.

The big difference was that the third time around, asking him what he needed made the trade his idea.

On goals

The problem with setting goals is that you risk committing your success to one or two people saying “yes” rather than “no.” Goals should be specific enough to pursue in a focused way but broad enough to allow random chance to play its role without ruininng the chances of success.